the world forgetting
by unravel
Summary: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind inspired fic


_How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!_  
_The world forgetting, by the world forgot._  
_Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!_  
_Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;_

**-Alexander Pope**

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When Quinn woke up that morning, she was on the couch. It took her a moment to realize where she was, why the sun was shining right on her face and why the sound of Finn in the kitchen sounded so close. She yawned and sat up, pushing her hair out of her face. "Finn?" Almost immediately he was standing in the doorway. Like he had been waiting for her to wake up. That was how Finn was, though. Always waiting, ready to ask her what was wrong, if she needed anything. His voice was too cheery.

"Hey, you're up!" Quinn frowned over at him, grumpy.

"Why am I on the couch?" Something wavered behind Finn's eyes, the dishtowel in his hands twisting anxiously. She watched him curiously. He was taking a while to answer.

"You fell asleep there during the movie last night… You don't remember that?"

"Oh…" Quinn racked her brain for a second. That sounded right and yet she couldn't place it. But this was Finn and she trusted him, probably more than she trusted anyone in her life. So he must be right. "Yeah. I guess…" Even though she didn't guess. Quinn falling asleep during a movie was nothing new, though. She rubbed a hand over her eyes, yawning. "Do you have to work today?" When she looked up, Finn had walked into the kitchen and out of her view. She stood up and quickly crossed the living room into the kitchen to see Finn sitting down at the table, reading the paper. He glanced up at her, giving her a funny look as she continued to stand beside him.

"It's Saturday, Q." She frowned again. Where was her head today?

"God, what is wrong with me?" She let out an anxious laugh, though she wasn't quite sure why, and crossed to the refrigerator. For the life of her, Quinn couldn't come up with one good reason to be so scatterbrained. Just one of those days, she guessed. Behind her, she heard Finn echo her laugh.

"Dunno. But hey, uh, we need to go to the grocery store. We're out of pretty much everything. Including that soy milk you like." Quinn nodded slowly, looking at the scarcity of food in the fridge that only emphasized what he was saying. Soy milk, though… Quinn hadn't had soy milk in a while. Now, why would he say that? She glanced over his shoulder to give him a look.

"I haven't had soy milk in years, Finn." Was there a gas leak somewhere? She felt so off. Finn looked up at her for a second as if he was going to say something before she changed his mind.

"Did I say soy milk? I meant… regular milk. I guess we're both a little weird today." He gave her a weak half smile, one of his eyebrows raising at her before he glanced away, standing up from the table. "Wanna go get changed and we'll go right now?" Quinn had closed the fridge and was watching him intently. When he looked over at her, though, she nodded in agreement. Maybe it was best to just keep on with the day. She had slept on the couch weird and her back hurt and all this weirdness was in her head.

"Yeah. Just give me ten minutes."

Twenty minutes later, Quinn was standing in front of the dairy aisle in the only Harris Teeter in Lima, Ohio. Soy milk. It had been so long since she'd had soy milk and the whole ride over she had just been obsessing over it more and more. It was a craving now. But why? Why all of a sudden did she want soy milk so badly? Quinn was so lost in thought that when she saw someone standing next to her out of the corner of her eye, she jumped a little because she had no idea how long he had been standing there. He was standing so close to her though and Quinn took a step to the side, focusing her attention back to the gallons of milk in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, though, he was still standing there and when she looked over, this olive-skinned, shaved head, all jaw and muscle statue of a man was staring, pretty blatantly, at her ass. Quinn's eyes narrowed and she looked away, taking another step to separate her from him. This time he followed her movements. Quinn's head snapped towards him forcefully, her eyes glaring. "Can I help you?" His eyes lingered on her ass for another long moment before he finally looked up at her, his eyebrows raised innocently. His tongue flicked over his lips.

"Me? Oh, no… just looking." Quinn rolled her eyes as he smirked at her, one of his eyebrows cocking up at her suggestively. Quinn twisted the silver band on her left ring finger purposefully, hoping he would get the hint. He didn't even look down at her hand. When she glanced over at him, this time his eyes were on her breasts. Quinn turned on her heel, her face flushing and started walking in the opposite direction. The thud of rubber soled shoes on tile followed her. "Hey! Hey, wait a second." She kept walking. Whoever this disgusting man was, she was going to find Finn and have him yell at him or beat him up or something. He grabbed her arm. She pulled it free.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are so please do not touch me." As Quinn turned to him, he raised his hands like she was poking a gun into his chest.

"God, sorry, sorry… I just… have we met?" He gave her a look of genuine curiosity. What a weird question. But she considered if for a moment, glancing over him quickly. Nothing about him seemed familiar, like she could place it in her brain and yet she had this weird déjà vu, like he was reminding her of someone she did know.

"No. We haven't." Quinn made her voice firm, more certain that she actually was. He made her uncomfortable and misplaced and she was just about tired of it. "Please leave me alone." He licked his lips again, pink tongue flicking over full mouth. Her eyes watched the muscles in his jaw move under his skin. Déjà vu. He stuck his hand out to her, offering it to shake. Quinn stared at it dumbly, almost scared to touch him when she looked over his shoulder at Finn rounding the end of the aisle. He spotted her immediately, eyes widening in recognition before furrowing into a frown, then worry. Finn started walking faster. Thank god. Maybe he would make this guy go away. Quinn ignored the hand stuck out towards her to shake and instead reached for Finn's arm as he approached her, grabbing it gratefully.

"Quinn…? You okay?" Finn didn't look at her, keeping his eyes on the stranger in front of her protectively. The man kept his eyes on Quinn.

"I'm fine, Finn…" She looked up at him, trying to communicate to him to get her out of there. But he wasn't looking at her. She followed his gaze back to the stranger. He finally noticed Finn's eyes on him, offering his hand to the taller man instead.

"Puckerman." Quinn looked up at Finn, who had the weirdest look on his face. For a moment, Quinn didn't know if he would actually shake his hand. But eventually her fiancé's hand reached out, grabbing this Puckerman person's firmly.

"Finn Hudson." Puckerman nodded, his gaze turning back to her expectantly.

"Oh! I'm, uh, Quinn. Fabray." He didn't offer his hand out to her again and she was grateful. She still didn't want to touch him.

"Well, it was nice to meet you… Quinn. And Finn." Puckerman said Finn's name with a hint of… something. Sarcasm or amusement… something that Quinn didn't like.

"Yeah uh, well we have to… go now-" Finn was pulling her away and Quinn was exhaling gratefully just as a familiar shrill voice rang down the aisle.

"Noah!" Quinn's head whipped around, a grin spreading over her face. Behind her, Rachel Berry was clicking down the aisle, all purpose and frustration. Noah. Quinn turned to look back at the man who had introduced himself as Puckerman. Noah Puckerman. She opened her mouth to say something but Rachel's hand was on her arm and she turned back around. "Quinn! What a surprise, seeing you here." The brunette's eyes flickered to Finn and for the first time Quinn noticed the child clutching onto Rachel's hand for dear life. Quinn looked down at the tiny dark haired girl for a really long moment. Since when did Rachel like kids? The little girl stared back up at her blankly. Quinn didn't know how long they stood like that before Rachel was pulling the girl away, moving towards Noah Puckerman and grabbing him possessively. "Sorry to be in a rush guys, but we have to go. Come along, Noah." Noah threw Quinn a helpless look that made her want to laugh, though she wasn't quite sure why. A moment of odd familiarity.

"My name is Puck." Rachel was tugging him away. Quinn turned, not sure if he was talking to her.

"I'm sorry?" He was halfway down the aisle, calling out to her. The little girl had grabbed onto his hand with the same intent as Rachel.

"I said, my name is Puck." Quinn nodded, her brow furrowing. Why was he telling her this?

"Oh… okay." He nodded back at her and soon the three of them had disappeared around the aisle. And Finn was grabbing her arm in almost the same way Rachel had grabbed Puck.

"Come on, Quinn, let's go home."

Rachel waited until she knew Quinn was asleep to call. Finn was up later than his fiancé anyways and Rachel didn't require much sleep to begin with. He picked up the phone the moment it started vibrating on the coffee table in front of him and didn't even bother to say hello.

"What the fuck was that today, Rachel?" Finn's tone wasn't even mad. Just… frustrated, exhausted, stressed, a number of things. It was too much. He was already unsure if they could pull this off. Rachel's voice was calm.

"Finn, it's completely fine, nothing happened."

"Nothing happened? They talked to each other! Isn't that like, really bad or something? And bringing Beth? What the fuck were you thinking?" Rachel sighed into the receiver, the sound static in Finn's ear. He slouched down into the couch.

"I can't just lock her up in my house, you know. She's growing up and she needs to be out and about. Just because her parents have made several moronic decisions doesn't mean she should be punished. She deserves to grow up like a normal girl." Finn knew Rachel was right. She was always right. Always. It was his turned to sigh.

"Yeah… You're right, Rachel. It's just… it's so goddamn stressful, having to make sure of all this stuff, you know? I don't know if I can—" She cut him off.

"Finn, don't even start with that business. You love Quinn. This was practically your idea. You both decided it's for the best and now we just have to do that best that we can." There was a long silence as Finn swallowed. She had said it all. They just had to make the best of it. He thought she was going to hang up but instead, right in his ear, he heard: "I miss you, Finn."

"Rachel…"

"I know, I know, I'm not helping our situations any, I just wanted you to know. Because it's true." He was quiet for a long time.

"I miss you too."

It was two days before he called her. She almost didn't hear the phone ringing, the radio on too loud as she cooked dinner for Finn. But she grabbed the receiver at the last second, her voice rushed and out of breath.

"Yes, hello?"

"Is this Quinn?" She frowned for a moment, not recognizing the voice at the other end.

"Uh, yes, who's calling?"

"It's Puck? From the other day?" Quinn didn't say anything for a long moment, her breath catching in her throat. He started talking again. "Hello? From the grocery store? I checked out your ass for like five minutes and you yelled at me and it was really hot?"

"Yeah, I remember you." Quinn rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see. "Can I help you?"

"I was just wondering if I could take you out to dinner."

"What?"

"You know, dinner? Eat food? You're really hot and I was just wondering." Quinn licked her lips anxiously, her palm sweating against the receiver.

"I'm sorry, but I'm engaged."

"So? I have, like, a girlfriend-thing and a kid."

"Then why are you asking strangers out on dates?"

"I like you." Quinn tensed, swallowing a lump in her stomach that told her this was a bad idea.

"How did you get my number?"

"You and Rachel are friends right? I got your number out of her phone. It's weird we've, like, never met though. I'm sure I would've been able to remember an ass like that one you've got on you. You should probably wear a really nice pair of jeans when I take you out to dinner. Goddamn, I bet you look hot in jeans."

"Is this supposed to make me want to go out with you?" He chuckled into the receiver and the sound tickled her ear. Déjà vu.

"Just go out with me. You know you want to. I'll even be a gentleman or something."

"I don't even know you."

"I know. But you still want to." Quinn took a heavy breath

"Fine. Dinner."

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven."


End file.
